The Avenging Angel
by Aye-Aye57
Summary: She was the secret weapon they never knew they had. Could she be the ultimate asset to the team? Or could her own demons shine through and tear everything apart? Features all the Avengers.
1. Prologue

**A/N: So this chapter is my character's back story, and is set about a year and a half before 'Avengers'. I am doing this so that you know who the character is and how they got in their current situation. When this is over I will get into the main story, I just felt I needed to set the scene :) Oh, and if anything confuses you just ask; I love getting feedback :)** **P.S I am British, so please excuse any British spellings/meanings for certain words :)**

* * *

The young girl sat in the high-tech cell, with her arms wrapped around her knees as she cried. She couldn't of been older than sixteen, she had dark brown hair tied in a loose plait to the side of her head, and her face was damp from the tears that had streaked down from her deep brown eyes; that looked almost black in the dimly lit room. She had tanned skin, was about five foot eight and she was of medium build. She risked a glance up at the security camera that was watching her from the corner of the room, before resting her forehead back onto the top of her knees, her navy skinny jeans preventing her from bringing her knees any closer to her head. She flinched as she heard the door click open, and a man in a tailored suit walked into the room.

"Pl-please don't, don't hurt me.." she stammered as the man stood opposite her, his shadow looming over her.

"I'm not going to hurt you, we're not going to hurt you." the man replied, his face looked worn, with lines tugging the corners of his eyes and mouth. His sandy brown hair thinning at the forehead.

"But, why am I here? I didn't do anything wrong, I want to go home!" the girl burst out into sobs again as the man sighed.

"What is your name, miss?" he asked, trying to get through to the near hysterical girl.

"Leila, Leila Shaft." she managed to say, in between her crying.

"Well Miss Shaft, my name is Agent Coulson and you haven't done anything wrong, we just need some information." She looked up at him, surprise evident on her face.

"B-but, what would I know?" she stuttered, as her tears began to subside.

"Someone is going to come and speak to you in a minute, and then we will be able to let you go." Agent Coulson said as he turned to leave.

"But I still don't understand, what would I know that's so important to you?" she sniffed and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her pale blue hoodie, before lowering her head back down to her knees.

"We'll soon find out, won't we?" he walked out of the cell, and the girl waited until she heard the click of the door before she looked up again.

* * *

"I don't know Sir, but I think we have the wrong girl, I mean look at her! She's a complete mess, she won't know anything!" Agent Coulson was frustrated, he had been told that they had the girl that could lead them to what they were tracking but this girl was just some scared teenager! She wasn't even hiding anything, all he could read from her when he entered that cell was pure fear.

"Just wait and see, she may know more than you think. Good luck Agent Coulson, I have some business to attend to." The man on the screen disappeared, and Agent Coulson turned his gaze back to the screen showing their newest 'guest'. But what he saw was not what he was expecting. Where Leila had been sitting was empty. _Where is she? _He thought. He sounded the alarm, and men went rushing to her cell.

* * *

She had to escape. She thought to herself, if she is stuck here any longer things will get ugly. She sat up, and walked over to the camera in the corner of the room. She pressed herself up against the wall directly underneath the camera, which conveniently happened to be close to the door. Now in the camera's blind spot, she waited for the alarms.

She smirked to herself as she heard the beating of the boots heading towards her cell. The door slid open, she held her breath; then she brought her leg up to kick the man in the face; knocking him to the ground, before she twisted the other man's gun from his arms, disarming him, then knocking him to the ground. She slid past the now unconscious men on the floor and out of her cell. She stepped out into an open corridor that stretched on for a few hundred metres. She ran down the corridor past huge vault doors and many other containment areas.

"Nearly there, nearly there.."

She skidded round the corridor to the left and saw many armed guards dressed in black, all-in-one suits coming towards her from the opposite direction.

"Fantastic!" She spun back around to the corridor on the right hoping that this corridor looped around to the exit. As she ran she could hear the sound of boots coming from behind her, but she was silent as her pumps padded lightly on the floor.

* * *

Agent Coulson had watched in horror as the teenage girl, a hysterical mess just minutes ago, disarmed two of his agents, before disappearing down the hallway. She was heading for the exit, he couldn't let her get out; she obviously knew something. "All agents on red alert, detainee has escaped; detainee is hostile but does not possess any imminent danger. Restrain and bring back to holding cell." Coulson then watched as Leila(_he wandered if that was even her real name_) knocked five more men to the ground before she ran straight towards the exit. He then gazed in horror as men open fired on her, in their desperate attempts to stop her.

"What are you doing? She has valuable information stop shooting at her!" He shouted down his earpiece. He saw her stumble but she kept running.

* * *

She felt something hot tear at her side; but she couldn't stop to look. She had to keep running. She turned out of the main building, realising that it was pitch black outside. _How long was I in there for?_ She was aware of the many agents that were gaining on her. She came to the edge of the facility and was confronted with a huge fence. She took a few steps back, then ran at it full speed, hooking her feet in the gaps in the wire mesh. She landed gracefully on the other before running in what she hoped was the direction of the nearest road. _Perhaps I could get a lift_, she thought.

She trampled through shrubbery and shoved her way through a large bush before jumping over a barrier and onto a highway. This was crazy, she was crazy! She shouldn't of got on S.H. I. E. l. D's stupid radar in the first place, now she was a walking target. Not to mention the fact that she was on some road in the middle of nowhere! It was at that moment when she felt the searing pain shooting through her side; she had been shot! Blood was seeping through her hoodie, her hands instantly moved to try stop the blood flow.

"Great, because this situation couldn't get any worse.." she muttered to herself.  
She turned her head to the right as headlights blinded her view. She glanced at the car outline and breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed it wasn't a government car. She stumbled to the middle of the road and removed one hand from her side and waved for the car to slow down. She started to feel faint; she was loosing blood fast. She watched as the car slowed to a stop in front of her and two figures rushed out to see if she was okay. As they got closer she could she that one of them was a man and he seemed quite young, but it was too dark to see any of his facial features in detail.  
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voiced seemed soft and gentle.  
"Please, help me." her eyes glanced at her side, she was going to loose consciousness soon. She watched him follow her gaze and he breathed out heavily, almost sighing.  
"She's bleeding a lot, Alex we need to take her to a hospital!" the second figure spoke up, a young girl who was standing cautiously behind the man; whose name appeared to be Alex.  
"No, please, don't take me to a hospital, they'll find me." her breath was quickening, she couldn't pass out now; but she could feel the darkness taking over.  
"Who will find you?" he asked sounding worried.  
"S. H. I. E. L. D." she breathed. "Please, trust me, you can't let them find me." She felt the blackness cover her like a veil as she slipped into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The first thing she was aware of was that she wasn't on the hard road she passed out on, but something soft. _A bed?_ she thought, _how did I get in a bed?_ She was also aware of the smell of something sweet wafting in the air and tickling at her nose. Her eyes flicked open; instantly taking in her surroundings. She was in a square bedroom in someone's apartment. The walls were painted white to match the bed covers; there was a huge floor to ceiling window directly opposite where she sat on the bed, however the curtains where drawn so she couldn't see where exactly she was. There was a wooden chair next to the bed, which was a huge double bed with a wooden frame to match the pine desk that was to the right of the bed. There was also a white, plush couch to the side of the chair.

She sat up properly and spotted a note lying next to her on the pillow. She picked it up and her eyes glanced over the handwritten scrawl.

_"There is a bathroom through the door on you left, there are some clean clothes, feel free to clean yourself up."_

She knew she should be weary, but she was so tired she didn't care any more. Anyway, if these people wanted to kill her they would of done so already, whoever these people were in the first place.  
She twisted her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She felt a shooting pain ripple up her side and turning to look she remembered the events of the previous night. Well she hoped it was the previous night, she had no idea how long she had been unconscious for. She walked slowly to the bathroom and slide open the door. It was a small but modern bathroom, with a walk in shower to the left and a huge mirror and marble sink to the right. The marble floor making it look like some kind of rocky kaleidoscope. She felt horribly out of place, but surely enough resting by the sink was a small stack of clothes. She looked to see what was there, and there was a dark blue t-shirt, some denim skinny jeans and a black hoodie. There was also a clean white towel hanging on the towel rack. She sighed and glanced at the shower. It did look inviting and she needed to relax before she thought about what she was going to do.  
But first she needed to check her wound, it wasn't that painful, but then she had always had a high pain threshold. She lifted up her t-shirt and inspected the wound. The bullet thankfully hadn't hit anything important and had just gone straight through. _Will be healed soon enough_ she thought. She sighed again and headed for the shower.  
She turned the heat up high and let the water loosen her muscles. She was an idiot for coming in the first place, she knew that, she just needed to get away. She had no idea that she would be picked up by S. H. I. E. L. D's radar, heck she didn't even realise she could be tracked. She was definitely going to have to do some serious hacking to remove her files when she got back- _if_ she got back, she had no idea where she even was, and yet here she was getting a shower in some strangers apartment. She stood in the shower a little longer, letting the water run over her skin.  
Grabbing the towel of the rack she wrapped it around herself and walked over to the small cupboard next to the sink and got out a bandage. She didn't know if it had been put there on purpose but she was going to use it anyway. Wrapping the bandage round her waist she wondered if her wound would take longer to heal than usual, she hoped not, as she could tell she would have to do a lot more running soon. Fiddling with the ends of the bandage she finally managed to tie it. She then got dressed into the borrowed clothes. Surprisingly the clothes fit, the jeans hanging a little loosely and the hoodie almost went to her knees, but she didn't mind; she liked wearing her clothes like that.  
She dried her hair with the towel then messily plaited it to the side of her head; the shower had caused her hair to go wavy and unfortunately there was no way for her to straighten it. _Frizzy hair it is _she thought.  
Roughly folding the towel she chucked it back on the rack then walked back into the bedroom. She walked towards the door that led out to the rest of the apartment, her hand resting on the door handle as she hesitated. _Open the door you idiot, you brought this on yourself. _Right, she was right, this was her fault and her mess, she may as well fix it.

Opening the door she found herself walking into a open plan kitchen, that led into a living room which had a huge white couch, with a glass coffee table in front of it, and behind that was a large flat screen TV attached to the wall. There was also a huge glass table, which looked like it doubled as a board room; as there were touch screens attached to it, and a cabinet that looked like it hooked up to some kind of wireless connection. Sitting at the table on a laptop was a man that looked vaguely familiar, and it took her longer than usual to realise that it was the man who helped her last night. He didn't look much older that her, with chocolate brown hair that was almost in his icy blue eyes, that glanced up as he heard her walk into the room. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and black skinny jeans. He was skinny, but still looked like he had some muscles, and he looked like he knew how to fight. (She was good at analysing people, it's something that she normally hides, but it can be useful.) She heard a noise come from her right and she turned to look in the kitchen. It was very modern with glass tops to match the rest of the décor in the house. The source of the noise was a girl who looked about twenty, with blonde hair that hung in ringlets at her shoulders. She had blue eyes also, but they weren't at piercing as the boy's, but they showed kindness, which made her relax a little in these foreign conditions. The girl gave her a warm smile and turned her attention back to what she was cooking.

"Hey sleepy head, sure you don't want to go to a hospital? You did get shot." the voice made her jump, and she turned around to see the boy had gotten up and was walking over to her.

"No thanks, I'll be okay." _I hope._ "Umm, I guess I should thank you, for picking me up, and the bed, and the clothes." She was still weary of these people, which in result made her sound like a rambling idiot. "I mean you and your, umm, friend? You guys saved my life, I owe you. I mean anyone could of found me, and I hate to think what would of happened if it'd been someone else.."  
She rambled on again but she was truly grateful, she was a bit careless sometimes and these people picked her up off the road and let her into their apartment. _Wait for the catch _she thought.

"You have a British accent, interesting. Oh sorry, introductions right, I'm Alex and that's my sister Hannah." he said pointing to the girl, who gave a wave and another smile. He continued talking; "But can I ask what you did to piss S. H. I. E. L. D off? I mean, they're a pretty top secret organisation and the fact that you managed to escape is even more impressive."_ Great, here's the catch._

"Alex! Sorry, he just wants to make sure you're not some terrorist or something, he doesn't want to be tracked down too." Hannah explained his rather demanding outburst.

"I'm sorry but, how do you even know about S. H. I. E. L. D? Are you the good guys or the bad guys?" she asked. _May as well get it over with_.  
"Don't worry, we're the good guys, we are like consultants for S. H. I. E. L. D, if they ever need our expertise, advice or technology then we can help. We don't exactly agree with the way they do certain things, but it's a better job than being a bad guy." Hannah laughed, but stopped when she saw the warning look from Alex.  
_Consultants huh? _Interesting, she didn't know S. H. I. E. L. D had consultants.

"Well don't worry, I'm a good guy too, it's just a shame other people see it like that." She smiled when she saw their stances relax a bit and she continued, realising she may as well get this over with. "My name is Arianna, Arianna Halverson, but I prefer Anna if you don't mind. S. H. I. E. L. D '_detained_' me because they thought I had information about an unusual source they were tracking. I escaped before they could ask me anything, but obviously it didn't go as successfully as I planned." she motioned to her waist.

"But why not just give them the information on the source?" Alex asked, he had walked back to his laptop at the table.

"Isn't it obvious?" Anna asked. "I was the source!"

Hannah and Alex stared at her and the apartment was silent. Then Alex's laptop beeped loudly, making everyone jump.  
"According to this, the only 'Arianna Halverson' matching your description died six years ago in a house fire with her parents in London; aged 10." he looked up from the screen and raised an eyebrow at her.

"That's me. I should've died that night, but I didn't, for reasons you wouldn't believe. Plus, being dead helps keep you off the radar. That's one smart computer you've got there by the way, it's normally very difficult to find me." She smiled, they were good, _not long until all my secrets are out._

"But that can't be the reason for S. H. I. E. L. D tracking you though, is it? What's the real reason?" Hannah asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Anna replied simply, _you would hand me right over to S. H. I. E. L. D as well,_ she thought. _Errghh_, she thought too much for her own good.

"Try us, you'll be surprised at some of the things we seen or experienced. Plus all the stuff we've read on S. H. I. E. L. D's server." Alex challenged.  
Anna took a deep breath,_ time to face your demons._

"I'm an Angel." She said simply. "Well, when I say Angel, I mean I have wings, and I heal fast; so I can't die. Plus I have slightly more enhanced abilities than normal humans. Oh, and I'm technically an alien. But I had the stereotypes that come with that label; y'know little green men and all that, so umm.. yeah." Anna exhaled loudly, glad to of gotten it over and done with and she stood there waiting for Alex and Hannah's reactions.

"But, you have a British accent, how does that work?" Hannah asked, Anna was taken aback by the question, it wasn't the response she was expecting at all.

"Well, I was left here as a baby, adopted and raised on Earth, so I'm basically human, I just had parents that aren't '_from around here_'." She let out a nervous laugh; still careful as she waited for Alex's reaction. "Okay, I'll admit I wasn't expecting that. Can I ask how S. H. I. E. L. D were able to track you?" Alex finally responded.

"So you're not disgusted or anything? Or even shocked?" Anna head turned between the two of them. _Had she found people to trust?_

"Well, it was a bit of a shock, but you don't look dangerous and plus you said you weren't the bad guy. So I trust you." Hannah smiled at her and she smiled back, relaxing at the acceptance.

"If only S. H. I. E. L. D saw it that way." Anna sighed but continued. "They are or should I say were able to track me because sometimes I emit electromagnetic rays, that shouldn't be in the atmosphere. Perfectly harmless of course, but annoying for me if they are detected. S. H. I. E. L. D only found me because I was near the area where they managed to trace the rays. I guess they thought I might of seen something. Luckily they had no idea I was what they were trying to find."

"Yes well, they most probably know you're it now." Alex said. "Can you control when you emit these 'rays'?" He was curious and wanted to know more about this intriguing girl standing in his apartment.  
"They are only given off by my wings." She chuckled. "But not all the time, just happened to be the wrong place at the wrong time. I played hysterical girl for a while too, made it easier to get away; it's out of character so you are one step ahead with the art of surprise."  
"It's difficult isn't it?" Hannah asked as she walked back into the room. Anna hadn't even realised she had left, too engrossed in her conversation with Alex. Her attention turned to the plate in Hannah's hand and what was on the plate. _Waffles_ she thought, _that's what I could smell before._  
"I thought you might be hungry." She grinned. "I hope you like waffles."  
"What did you mean about it being difficult?" Anna asked as she sat down to bite into a waffle she had drowned in sugar.  
"I mean being what you are and having to hide it. Aren't you lonely?"  
"I have some friends back in London who know about me. S'alright." she shrugged, it did get lonely sometimes but she had gotten used to the feeling.  
"So what happens n-" But Alex was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing.  
She saw the worried glance the siblings shared then Alex spoke. "That's not mine."  
"It's mine." Anna said, getting up to locate the source of the ringing. "It was in my pocket when you found me right?"  
"But who's ringing you?" Hannah asked, concern lining her words.  
"Let's find out shall we?" Anna picked up her phone; the number was blocked. _Typical_.

"Hello?"

"You know, beating up agents then running away isn't strong evidence to prove that you don't know anything." The voice was tired and monotone, but it was oh so familiar.

"Agent Coulson, yes? I'm sorry we got off to such a terrible start, things got a little out of hand." Alex and Hannah shifted in their seats, _what was she doing?_

Alex looked at her and mouthed; '_is it traceable?'_ She rolled her eyes and shook her head, she wasn't stupid.

"Yes, I apologise for that, but I do believe that it is in both our best interests for you to meet with us."

"And why would I want to do that?"

"You wouldn't want any of your new friends to get into_ trouble_ now would you? We can track their car you know, wouldn't be a nice way to repay them for their kindness." a_t least he didn't know where they were._

"You wouldn't dare! They have nothing to do with this!" By this point in the conversation Alex and Hannah had moved from their seats and were busily typing on their laptops.

"Why don't you come and meet with us and I'm sure we can talk this out like civilised people."

"Yeah right." she scoffed. "Where and when?"

"There is an abandoned warehouse about five miles out of New York, we can send you more details."

"Oohh a warehouse, classy."

"Be there at five P. M, I don't want to have to do this the hard way."

"I thought you already were doing it the hard way?" She was winding him up, may as well have fun in the worst of situations.  
She heard the man sigh on the other end of the phone before hanging up. She smirked, then turned to face Alex and Hannah.  
"I'm sorry." She said, "I feel like I've dragged you into this stupid mess."

"Hey, it's not your fault. What's the situation?" Hannah asked.

"He wants to meet me. I don't know what they want, but it can't end well." Anna pulled herself up onto the table top, mindlessly watching her legs as they swung back and forth.

"Where do they want to meet you? Can't you just run?" Alex asked.

"Some warehouse outside of New York, they're going to send me more details. And I can't run, they'll track me back to here, I don't want them to find you." She tucked a loose piece of her wavy hair back behind her ear and looked up at Alex and Hannah.

"We'll come with you." Alex stated.

"You can't! You're already deep enough in this anyway, I don't want you to have a target on your heads too." Anna couldn't believe this, she had just met them yet they were willing to stand with her.

"Well, how do you expect to get there? You don't even know where you are!" Hannah replied, her maternal sense kicking in.

Anna raised an eyebrow, she had the quickest way of getting there hidden on her back.

"You're not going to fly are you? Can you even fly?" Alex queried. "You know you are in the middle of New York, you don't want to get shot down or anything. I heard Tony Stark was in town." He smirked, knowing she wouldn't want to have an encounter like that, she was trying to stay hidden.

"Well then, how do you suggest I get there?" She hoped down off the table and fished her phone out of her pocket as it beeped. She glanced at the information on the screen, then chucked her phone at Alex.

"Catch!" He caught it with ease and took in the information, he then handed the phone to Hannah.

"We are taking you, no arguments. We want to help, you can trust us." She looked into Alex's icy eyes and saw no lie in the statement. She could trust him and Hannah, so she did.

"I trust you. Now how long will it take to get there?" Anna replied, gesturing to the phone in Hannah's hand.

"Not long, but we better leave now." Said Hannah, "We better stock up the car though, Alex?" Anna watched as Alex tapped a screen on the glass table, and the cabinet opposite opened to reveal a miniature arms unit.  
Anna let out a low whistle. "Impressive." she said.

"Thanks, we designed and built most of the stuff ourselves." Responded Alex as he took out two compact hand guns, a small black backpack and a box of ammunition from the cupboard.  
"I see what you mean about S. H. I. E. L. D using your expertise, can I have a look?" Anna pointed to one of the guns. Alex nodded and motioned for her to take it.  
It felt heavy in her hands, but not strange, she was familiar with firearms, not that she ever needed to use them. She twisted it around in her hands and let her finger trace along the barrel. Smiling she handed it back to Alex, who placed it carefully in the black bag.  
"We better go, you ready?" Hannah asked as she twirled the car keys in her hand.  
"Let's do this." Said Anna, smiling.

* * *

The car drive was long, and throughout the duration of the journey Anna told Alex and Hannah all about her life as they quizzed her on what she was.

They arrived early, the warehouse and surrounding area deserted. Anna got out first, jumping out slowly and taking in her surroundings. Her pumps landing lightly on the dusty grit. Alex and Hannah followed behind and Anna turned to them.  
"There's no one here yet, why don't you go, I'll be fine on my own, they don't need any more of a reason to start a fight."  
"Anna, we said we would stay with you, you can trust us." Hannah smiled.  
The sound of cars approaching caused them all to turn around. Three black SUV's pulled up and parked about ten metres away from them in a loose triangle shape. Two agents stepped out of each car all of them in black suits except the man in the front, who wore a grey suit and was horribly familiar.  
Anna walked up to the man in the grey suit with her hand extended. "Agent Coulson, I'm sorry we couldn't of had a better introduction, allow me to properly introduce myself; my name is Arianna Halverson and I am truly sorry for running away before, but some things I would of preferred to keep secret." As far as introductions went Anna wasn't very good at them.

Agent Coulson smiled at her. "Pleasure to meet you properly Miss Halverson; I see you've acquired some_ friends_." he glanced over the Alex and Hannah before continuing. "We know what you are Miss Halverson, and what you are capable of." She stiffened, _how could he know? He couldn't know, S. H. I. E. L. D couldn't of possibly found out!_ She turned back to face Alex and Hannah, distress evident on her face.

"We want to give you a choice." Anna's head whipped back round to face him. She frowned and he continued talking. "You can either work for S. H. I. E. L. D or we see you as a hostile threat and we must terminate you." He finished and waited for her reaction.  
Anna stated blankly at him, okay she didn't know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't that.

"Listen to me, I am not your enemy." She said. "But I can't work for you, this," she gestured to herself, "is unpredictable and dangerous for you and for me."  
Now it was his turn to be confused, he frowned and looked at her. "Care to tell me how it is dangerous to you?"  
"Can I tell you in private? It's not something I'd like to share in front of certain people.." her eyes darted towards Alex and Hannah.  
Coulson looked at her and saw the fear behind her eyes, she was on their side, but she did not want to fight, he needed to find out why. With a flick of his hand his surrounding agents moved away and assisted Alex and Hannah with them, Anna giving them a look telling them it was okay.  
Anna took a deep breath and prepared to tell him her biggest secret, only one other person knew this about her, and they were halfway across the world and of no use to her now.  
"Well, you see.."

* * *

Agent Coulson closed the file on one Arianna Halverson and deleted it off the system, and filed the name away under 'TERMINATED'. He sighed, and waited for his next order, something big was coming for S. H. I. E. L. D.

* * *

Arianna stood in the airport departure and turned to face Alex who was staring back at her. "What exactly happened? You never did tell me what you said to him." He asked.

"It doesn't matter, I'm safe now, he saved my life, I owe him." Anna replied.

"As you owe us." Hannah butted in, smirking.

"Well it's a good thing your coming with me then isn't it?" Anna said cheekily.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay Alex?" Hannah asked, concern for her brother showing.

Agent Coulson had let Anna go, but had let the rest of S. H. I. E. L. D believe she was dead. She owed him so much, and now she was going back to London and Hannah was coming back with her. They had bonded so well over the their short time of knowing each other and Anna didn't mind that Alex was letting Hannah go with her as like a babysitter. He wanted her to be careful, he cared about her a lot.  
Hannah was going to work with her to produce something big, and hopefully help Anna work on her 'angel' situation.

"I'll be fine Hannah, anyway I hear S. H. I. E. L. D's found something blue and shiny to work on, so that'll keep them busy for a while, hey, they may even need some help." Alex grinned.

"When you say you 'heard' about what they're working on, you mean you hacked the system?" Hannah asked, obviously annoyed.

"Ah, sis, you know me so well." He winked and kissed her on the cheek. "Now hurry up or you'll miss the flight."

"Bye Alex, don't make the big boys too angry." Said Anna and she hugged him goodbye before walking down the the departures tunnel.

* * *

**A****/N: So that's the Prologue to the story, sorry it didn't have that much action towards the end, and don't worry you'll find out everything about Anna soon. I'm not sure how long Chapter 1 will take to be up but it is filled with action and features all the Avengers characters, so look out for it :)**


	2. Part 1 Chapter 1

Tony Stark hated funerals. He always had and always will. Today was no exception as he gazed at the few agents and co-workers who came to remember a man he could of maybe once called a friend.  
Agent Coulson was a brave man, taking on Loki by himself was his final act, and the Avengers victory over Loki would of meant his death was not in vain. Tony drifted in and out of the speeches, his thoughts and guilt consuming him and preventing him from staying on Earth.

Tony looked around for any other familiar faces; Bruce sat on Tony's right on the end of the row, still slightly cautious of being in public, despite having been staying with Tony for a while. Pepper sat on Tony's left with a comforting hand on his leg as she held back her own tears. Next to her was Steve Rogers sadness covering his face as he mourned for a man who knew so much about him, yet he knew hardly anything in return.

Next to Steve was Natasha whose face normally void of emotion, showed some sadness for the man she had worked closely with. Next to her was Clint, whose face was a mixture of remorse and sadness for a man who was not only a co-worker but a friend.

To Tony's right on the other side of the seats was Nick Fury. Agent Coulson had been Fury's right hand man and appeared to be the closest to the man; this showed on Fury's face as he looked like he had lost a brother, not a fellow agent. Next to him was Agent Maria Hill and next to her was Thor, who had managed to return to Earth from Asgard and he sat with Jane Foster a scientist of some sort, but Tony didn't really pay attention to those details. Jane sat next to Eric Selvig who had recently left his job at S. H. I. E. L. D to go to New Mexico to work with Jane on some new project.

The sun was hidden behind a thick layer of cloud, unusual for the summer weather, but it seemed to be reflecting everyone's mood. It had been two months since Loki tried to take of Earth, and since then S. H. I. E. L. D had been busy helping clean up New York and remove the alien wreckage. Tony had been busy re-building Stark Tower and had been staying at his house in Malibu with Bruce, Steve and sometimes Natasha and Clint if they weren't on missions with S. H. I. E. L. D.

Tony looked around the rest of the cemetery, which had been closed for their small procession, when his eyes stopped at a girl standing a short distance away from where everyone was sitting; a sombre look on her face. He had never seen her before, and he was pretty sure she wasn't on the invite list. She stood with her hands in the pockets of a long black trench coat; grey, knee high, lace-up boots on her feet. Her hair, which was seemed jet black was tied in a messy bun with a few pieces hanging loosely round her olive-toned face. Tony frowned. He had no idea who she was, but there wasn't much be could do about it now. She couldn't be a threat anyway, no one could be stupid enough to try anything with so many dangerous and powerful people here.  
The final person finished speaking and Tony stayed in his seat as he watched people place flowers upon the recently disturbed ground.

He watched as the final guests filed away, and he walked towards his car; Happy and Pepper were waiting for him by his car and the rest of the Avengers were waiting by separate cars, all ready to go back to Stark Tower.

However as he turned he saw the same girl from before standing at the grave. He told Pepper he would just be a minute and he walked over to the mysterious girl.

She didn't look up as he approached; either she ignored him or was too lost in thought to notice. She placed a single white rose in front of the headstone as she sighed.

"You know," he said "this is a private event, and I'm sure you weren't invited."  
The girl turned to face him, her eyes glistening as she frowned.

"I'm sorry, I just, umm, thought I should say goodbye.." she trailed off as her eyes turned back to the ground.

"Did you know Phil? He's never mentioned anyone like you before." Tony asked, curious as to who this girl was.

"Yes, I did know him, he saved my life, and I never really got a chance to thank him." She looked up at Tony and gave him a small smile. "It seems so long ago thinking about it, but it was only about two years. Sorry, I'm being rude; my name is Anna."

* * *

Pepper watched as Tony went over to some girl standing by the graveside. Pepper had never seen her before and was even more confused as to what Tony was doing.

"Who's Tony's talking to?" Pepper jumped at the voice, and turned to see Steve; who had been talking to Bruce but was now standing a short distance away, watching her as she watched Tony.

"I have no idea, but I'll soon find out." she said as she took out her phone and asked JARVIS to do a search, linking him to a computer in the car, to find out who this girl was. She watched as a camera photographed the girl's face and began scanning through security systems and documents from all over the world.

* * *

"Where are you staying?" Tony asked. "You can't be from around here, I can tell that from your accent."

She smiled. "Actually, I hadn't got that far in the planning, it was kind of a last minute thing." She replied as they started walking slowly to the edge of the cemetery.

"Well, I could give you a ride somewhere, if you want." He motioned to the cars parked outside the cemetery, with a few people waiting beside them.

"If your sure, It depends on which way you're going, I don't want to be a hassle or anything, I'm sure I could find my own way.." She trailed off again as she heard a noise from her pocket. She grabbed her phone from her coat and Tony watched as her eyes scanned the screen.

"_Shit_." he heard her mutter under her breath. "Actually," she started. "A ride doesn't sound all that bad." She gave him a nervous smile before pocketing her phone.

"So anywhere in particular you'd like to go, or would you just like to get away?"  
She chuckled. "Are you humouring me, Mr Stark? You really don't have to, we met all but five minutes ago; I could be anyone, yet you offer me a ride?" She smiled. "And if the offer still stands, I could do with a ride to an airport."  
Tony stared at her slightly taken aback by her response. However he wasn't put off by this and motioned for her to follow him as he walked out of the cemetery. As they approached the cars Pepper gave him a questioning look, as did all the other Avengers. Tony noticed Anna shift slightly under Pepper's gaze and as she made she eye contact with some of the team members.  
"Who's this?" Pepper asked as she glared at Tony.  
"This is Anna, she's and old 'friend' of Phil's, thought I'd offer her a ride to where she needed to go." Tony replied simply and Anna gave Pepper a small smile.  
However Pepper still wasn't convinced but let her into the car anyway, as everyone else filled into the other cars and Steve hoped on his motorbike (Which Tony saw had his shield strapped on the bottom.) _Still paranoid_, Tony thought.

* * *

Anna slid into the back seat while Tony got in the other side and Pepper sat in the front. Anna didn't even have to look to feel the glare Pepper was giving her from the car mirror. Anna saw her glance at the screen in the car and frown, but Anna brushed it off.

She needed to stop being so reckless, getting into a car with Tony Stark whilst the rest of the Avengers followed behind was completely crazy. She hadn't been to America in two years yet here she was being as stupid as ever. She should of just walked straight into a S. H. I. E. L. D base with a huge sign on her head and her hands up._ But then that way would be less fun;_ she thought. Not to mention the fact that Hannah was going to kill her, she didn't even want to think about what Alex would do, it was only a matter of time before he tracked her down. She was stupid, that was the only excuse,_ yet you kept doing these things._

Anna was so lost in her mental insulting that she nearly missed Tony's question.

"So where in England are you from?" Tony asked, he has been confused by her from when he first saw her, she could tell that. To be honest it was rather fun keeping him in suspense.

"You're from England?" Anna heard Pepper ask from the front seat.  
"Yeah, from London actually." she replied, gazing out the window noticing the other Avengers were still close behind in the other cars.

"It's Anna right?" Pepper asked. "I'm just confused as to how you knew Phil, how did you even find out about the funeral? it was meant to be secret." She noticed the emphasis on '_meant to_' and held back her sigh.

"Agent Coulson saved my life a few years ago and I owed him a lot more than that. I heard from a close friend about today, and felt I needed to say goodbye." Anna's glaze turned back to the window as she stared at the signs warning of construction work.

Her attention turned away from the window when she heard a loud beeping coming from the screen at the front of the car. Her eyes widened when she saw her picture appear on the screen and the word 'THREAT' flashed across in bright red.  
_Impossible_. She thought. _That file was deleted years ago how could-_ he was Tony Stark of course he would have the technology to find her S. H. I. E. L. D file, her file that happened to contain _all_ of S. H. I. E. L. D's information about her. Including the information they received that caused her to be a threat in the first place.  
She saw Stark's expression change from relaxed to shocked as she made eye contact with him.  
"Not good." she breathed, before she swung open the door of the still moving car and dived out landing with a thunk on the side of the road; finding herself in the middle of a construction site.  
She looked up to see Stark's car stop suddenly, as well as the other Avengers' vehicles.

Tony stepped out of the car carrying something she really didn't need to see; a red and silver case which could only transform into one thing. An Iron Man suit.  
She couldn't help but be amazed as she watched the suit wrap around him in seconds, but she was brought back to reality when she saw him raise his hands towards her ready to fire. She stood up, but had nowhere to go. _Not that you could outrun that,_ Her sub-conscious reminded her;

"Now that I wasn't expecting from you." He said, his voice sounding tinny through the suit. "I mean maybe a rogue spy or something, but an alien? That was unexpected."

She felt a sudden feeling of weightlessness and a burning in her chest as she was blasted off her feet and sent smashing through the wall of half-built building.

A blast like that would of probably killed a normal person, but she wasn't knocked off her feet that easily. Pulling herself up out of the rubble she recognised an oh-so familiar tingling feeling searing up her back as she felt her wings unfurl. Each wing was double the size of her arm when fully extended. They were iridescent in the light and as she emerged from the debris flickers of gold could be seen as she shook them out.

Still slightly dazed from the blast she waited for her eyes to adjust and was met by near- terrifying sight; Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and couple of assassins. Not to mention Pepper, Bruce and Happy standing by the cars no doubt calling S.H.I.E.L.D for back up.  
"Definitely not good." She swallowed. _Yeah, this is definitely keeping a low profile Anna._

* * *

**A/N: Hey! So I hope you liked the first chapter of part 1 and that everything made sense, I'm always worried it will appear different to how I imagine it in my head. Any opinions let me know, I'm doing this to help improve my writing and to share my story, so don't be afraid to leave a review! :)**


	3. Part 1 Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/story alerted! It means so much to me and it's great to know people are actually reading this fic! :)****  
****This chapter is from Natasha's point of view, because I think the previous chapter needed another perspective and this is a good filler too :)****  
**

* * *

Natasha always did her best to make sure that her mask never slipped, and that she wouldn't let emotions effect the decisions she made. However today was an exception. She waited with the rest of the Avengers after Coulson's funeral, trying her best not to be too upset but she couldn't help it.

She was distracted however when she noticed Tony Stark still in the cemetery, talking to someone she had never seen before. Automatically Natasha didn't trust whoever she was, baffled as to why she was here anyway.  
She watched amazed as the mysterious girl and Stark walked over to where everyone was standing by the cars.

"Who's this?" Pepper asked, Natasha could tell Pepper was just as weary of this girl as her.

"This is Anna, she's and old 'friend' of Phil's, thought I'd offer her a ride to where she needed to go." Tony replied, Natasha wanting nothing more than to wipe that smug grin off of his face.

Reluctantly Pepper allowed the girl, 'Anna' into the car as Natasha watched her cautiously. The rest of the Avengers seemed to shrug it off as they got into their designated vehicles, but Natasha couldn't shake that feeling that something was up. She knew to trust her head, and right now it was telling her that girl was trouble.  
She got into the car with Clint and let her head rest against the car window as she gazed at the blurring images, letting her emotions wash over her.

* * *

Natasha was shook out of her day-dreaming when she saw one of the doors on Stark's car swing open and a figure come tumbling out. Stark's car stopped suddenly and Natasha stared in shock at the same girl from before, now lying on the side of the road near a construction site after having dived out of a moving car.

By now everyone else had stopped to stare with they same air of confusion as Natasha.  
She was even more surprised to see Stark emerge from his car carrying one of his Iron Man suits. _What is going on?_ She thought. She cleared her head and paid close attention to the scene unravelling in front of her.

Tony was suited up in seconds and raised his hands to aim at the girl now standing a short distance away. She heard Tony speak through the suit and was completely taken aback by what he said;

"Now that I wasn't expecting from you." His suit charging up ready to fire. "I mean maybe a rogue spy or something, but an alien? That was unexpected." _Wait alien?_ _Did he just say alien?_ But Natasha hardly had time to process the information as Stark sent the girl flying straight into a half-finished building.

Jumping out of the car and sub-consciously grabbing her gun she rushed towards Stark, as the other Avengers followed behind.

"What was that?" she exclaimed. "What is going on!"

"Look for yourself." Stark said as he motioned towards her phone just as it went off in her pocket. She glanced at the file on her screen, then looked up to look at everyone.

"This file says she was a hostile threat investigated by S. H. I. E. L. D two years ago, but the file ends there, says the threat was 'terminated'."

"What kind of threat?" Steve Rodgers asked.

"An extra-terrestrial threat." Natasha replied.

This reply seemed to trigger something in the team and they all assumed position as Steve grabbed his shield from his bike as Bruce went to stay with Pepper and Happy (Who were calling S.H.I. E. L. D for help), not wanting 'the other guy' to come out yet.  
Everyone stood waiting, watching the rubble to see if anyone, or anything would emerge.

Natasha couldn't help but gasp when her eyes lay upon the figure that arose from the remains of the building. The girl stood up slowly a layer of dust and debris coating her body. Natasha wasn't even surprised by the fact that a blast like that would of killed a normal person, no, it was the huge pair of wings that had sprouted from the girl's back. She really wasn't expecting that.

She saw Stark raise his hands ready to fire again, and she sensed everyone else's positions stiffen at the sight.

She raised her own weapon and glanced at her team mates. She aimed straight at the girl's heart, but felt her finger hesitate slightly._ Pull yourself together, she is a threat._ Natasha reminded herself.

She made the final move and squeezed the trigger as the bullet headed straight for its target.

* * *

**A/N: Hope that chapter was okay, I'm not always great with description, or perspective..**

**Review? :)**


	4. Part 1 Chapter 3

Anna's eyes darted around quickly, analysing the situation; every scenario running through her mind.  
Her eyes rested on Black Widow and she felt her body freeze as she saw her raise her gun at her. Her finger squeezed the trigger and time seemed to slow for Anna as she watch the bullet approach her.

She closed her eyes and breathed in sharply and felt her wings whip round reflexively as they deflected the bullet.

Opening her eyes she breathed out a sigh of relief, her reactions were slower than usual due to the fact that she hadn't 'used' her wings in a while, and she was slightly vulnerable at this stage.

Her gaze travelled to Stark, who was raising his hands to fire once again. She was ready for the shot this time, and her wings protected her as the blast was re-directed towards the floor, which left a huge crater in its wake.

Inside she was panicking, she didn't know what to do and she didn't want to hurt anyone, she simply shielded herself as Natasha fired more shots and Stark increased the fire power, but Anna didn't even feel the heat; her wings proving to be tougher than they looked.

She felt a sudden gush of wind as a blur of red and blue whizzed past her, barely missing her head. She saw Captain America's shield bounce of a half finished wall and land back in his hand as he caught it with ease.  
Anna glanced up in time to see Thor throw his hammer straight at her, but she quickly leaned backwards as the hammer skimmed her stomach and went straight back to Thor's hand.

Before she even had time to think Thor ran towards her, hammer above his head as he tried to strike her down. Her wings covered her whole body defensively as she waited expectedly for the painful blow, but Thor and Mjölnir ricocheted off with an ear splitting screech and a blinding white light which sent everyone to the floor.

* * *

Bruce uncovered his eyes and peered back over the hood of the car after the blast. He stared unbelievably at the 'angel' or whatever she was completely astonished; Mjölnir was one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, he remembered researching it years ago, information entering his memory about its powers. "_He who wield__s __Mjölnir __w__ould be able to strike as firmly as he wanted, whatever his aim, and the hammer would never fail, and if he threw it at something, it would never miss and never fly so far from his hand that it would not find its way back."_

Bruce didn't want to be one to defy legend, but it looked like Mjölnir had just failed at hitting its target.

He just hoped S.H.I.E.L.D would get here soon.

* * *

Anna rose cautiously from the ground, blinking slowly as her eyes re-adjusted to the daylight.

"Well, that was unexpected." She muttered as she brushed herself down carefully, eyeing The Avengers as they stirred on the ground. They were alive, she let out a sigh of relief. She looked around at the mess they had all made. Piles of rumble and scorched building material lay scattered everywhere as dust and smoke was lifted from the air. She checked herself for any injuries but found herself to be unscathed. Not what you would expect after a beating like that.

The sound of jets in the distance caused her head to snap up and she turned to see the Avengers raising their weapons ready to fight again. She really couldn't take another round of this, she didn't know how long it'd be until she hurt someone.  
She heard a gun click behind her and she stiffened as she risked a glance back. Natasha had managed to sneak behind her and Anna realised she was stuck as the Avengers started to slowly encircle her. There was no way she could defend herself from all sides without hurting anyone, which she really didn't want to do, so she waited.

"Stay right where you are, or I or one of my team mates will kill you." Anna's eyes found the man who had spoken and identified him as Clint Barton; she'd heard Alex talk about him a few times. He held a bow and had an arrow aimed straight at her head.

She had to bite her lip hard to stop herself from laughing out loud, they hadn't done an exactly great job at restraining her so far and she could easily escaped. That was if she _wanted_ to.  
She gave him a small smile and raised her hands in surrender as her wings disappear in the blink of an eye. As she felt the headache start to creep on.

"Good move." he said, yet he still didn't lower his bow.

"Yeah, right." She muttered. Just as half a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D jets decided to land about 50 metres away from them and dozens of agents rushed out to help contain the situation. Obviously Pepper, Bruce and Happy had over-estimated the danger and gone a bit over board with the call for back-up. But then again, she could be quite dangerous, especially today when she was feeling particularly reckless.

In less than a second it seemed she was having her hands cuffed behind her back. Anna turned her head back to look at the restraints and noticed they were thicker and heavier than normal handcuffs. She had her head forced down and she was shoved towards an awaiting jet, her coat billowing in the wind and her boots scuffed along the floor; covered in dust. _Hmm, these were new_, she thought as she glanced at her boots.

Natasha and Clint followed her into the aircraft, Natasha never lowering her gun, obviously pissed about missing her multiple times before. Resulting in her constantly keeping her gun pointed at Anna's head.  
Anna was shoved down into a seat and was strapped in by a very cautious S.H.I.E.L.D agent, her hands still uncomfortably cuffed behind her back. Her head was pounding, she hadn't had an after effect like this before and she rolled her eyes.

"Is this how you treat all your guests? If so, I'd like to make a complaint." She teased, earning herself a death glare from Clint.

"Say one more word and I _will _kill you. Now I don't know who or what you are, or whatever the hell it is you want but this isn't some game. This isn't your planet and you can't just come here and expect to get what you want without there being consequences." Natasha snarled at her.

She opened her mouth to correct her but thought better of it and clamped her mouth shut. Instead she raised an eyebrow at Natasha, almost challenging her and pushing her luck way too much.

She averted her line of sight from the assassins deadly gaze and instead thought of Alex. He was going to kill her if S.H.I.E.L.D didn't first, and so was Hannah, but then knowing them they'd probably find a way to bring her back just to kill her again.

Hannah had noticed her absence a bit sooner than planned meaning that she instantly told Alex, who Anna was trying not to get involved in this in the first place. He had sent her a message which she received at the cemetery when she was with Stark, saying he had figured out where she was and that she shouldn't draw attention to herself. He had also told her in many different ways and languages that she was an idiot and that she should call him-_now_._ Emphasis on the now._

But being the brilliant person she was she ignored him and did exactly what he said not to do.

Natasha and Clint still watched her cautiously, sharing glances between each other as they silently conversed.  
She could tell they were interested; _who wouldn't be?_

She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, trying to calm herself. There was no doubt that they were taking her to the Helicarrier; she just hoped they would get there soon, before she felt any more sick. It wasn't that she was afraid of flying (_that would be horribly ironic_) but she was tired and she could feel her temples pulsating. She would do anything to have her hands free and be able to rub her head.  
Realising she should be focusing more on the situation at hand, Anna squeezed her eyes before opening them as she held back a sigh. _Can't be that far away,_ she thought, and her suspicions were confirmed when she heard the pilot make the final checks; before she felt the jet land with a gentle thud; on board the Helicarrier.

She glanced at Natasha and Clint as they shifted their positions, awaiting orders regarding their 'guest'.

Anna loosened her shoulders and wiggled her body against the straps holding her in her seat.

_This is where the fun begins._

* * *

**A/N: So, I'm back from London! I shortened this chapter a bit so I would be able to update and not keep you waiting, but I'm going to try make the next chapter a long one, so it might take a bit longer to update. School's nearly over for me, so I'll be able to write more when the holidays start :) Review if you like, feedback motivates me and helps me write faster ;)**

**Until next time!**

**Aye-Aye57 (:**


	5. Part 1 Chapter 4

**A/N: I realise now how annoying the names 'Anna' and 'Hannah' are going to be when I write, because they are so similar.. Oh well :')  
If any of you have tumblr, you should check mine out, I will probably post art and stuff for this fic later on;  
'burdened-with-glorious-avengers . tumblr . com (just remove the spaces) (:**

* * *

Alex sat at his desk on board the Helicarrier, his head buried in his arms as they laid crossed on the cool metal surface. Anna hadn't responded to his message yet; he knew she had seen it, his phone was programmed to tell him. So she was obviously doing something she shouldn't be.

He sighed and lifted his head up as he leant back in his chair. Anna was more trouble than she was worth, and he knew whatever she was doing at the moment wouldn't end well, but then again she could surprise him.  
He hadn't seen Anna or Hannah in over 3 months; not because he didn't want to, but he had been busy helping S.H.I.E.L.D, and it would of been difficult to get away to see them. He knew they were fine in London, but he couldn't help but worry; especially with the lifestyle they lived.

Alex was startled out of his thoughts by the high-pitched trilling sound of his phone ringing. Picking it up off the desk, he saw that the caller I.D did not belong to the person he was expecting a call from, but it belonged to someone he didn't want to talk to.

"Hello?"

"Bronson, this is Director Fury. Come to my office now. We need your expertise, a...situation has arisen." The line went dead before Alex had a chance to respond.

Alex frowned, he didn't like the hesitation in Fury's voice, he was never _uncertain_ on anything. At all.

Alex slid his phone into his back pocket; his S.H.I.E.L.D jumpsuit was proving to be very annoying, how could anyone move around in these things; let alone beat someone up.  
He walked out of his room and down the corridor passing agents and some of the many labs and storage facilities on the Helicarrier.

Alex arrived outside Director Fury's and tapped his knuckles gently on the door. It glided open and Alex cautiously stepped inside. Director Fury spoke as he entered;

"Please have a seat." he paused as he waited for Alex to sit. Alex sat in the black leather chair in front of Fury's desk, feeling horribly intimidated as Fury loomed over him. He wondered if Anna would find him at least the tiniest bit scary, but then again, she'd probably piss him off. His thoughts turned to ones of worry as he deliberated where Anna was. His mind returned to the room when the Director spoke again.  
"It has come to our attention that you have useful information on a source we have only recently encountered. Or should I say _re-encountered_."

Alex stared at him blankly, His face a display of confusion. Fury tapped in a code on a panel on his desk and a hollow-graphic screen appeared displaying a file.

"Two years ago S.H.I.E.L.D investigated a suspected hostile threat to the planet. The hostile was detained but escaped from our facility. Our agents made contact with them, and their file was deleted claiming the threat had been handled. They were never heard of again. That is," he paused to stare at Alex directly, trying to get a reaction out of him. "until today."

"Wait, what?" Alex exclaimed.

Fury rotated the hollow gram and 'pushed' it towards Alex.  
"Our sources firmly place you in the middle of the incidents that happened two years ago, along with your sister Hannah. Which also confirms your association with this girl;" another file appeared replacing the previous one "One Arianna Halverson." Said Fury.

_So that's why she didn't answer my text._ He realised.  
"I'm sorry Sir, I don't know what you're talking about." Alex tried to feign innocence.

"Don't try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. We have this _Arianna_ restrained and she is on her way here being escorted by members of the Avengers to be contained on board." Said Fury.

Alex spoke again;  
"I still don't know why you asked for me here. You probably won't listen, but trust me, take this advice from experience; she is not a threat or a danger- to anyone." _except herself _he added as a side note to himself.

"Agent Coulson was placed in charge of over-seeing the operation two years ago," Alex noticed Fury hesitate when he spoke of Coulson, "and for an unknown reason he let her go and deleted her file." He finished.

"Anna, I mean Arianna," Alex corrected himself knowing Fury would disapprove him using Anna's preferred name. "-spoke to Agent Coulson trying to convince him she wasn't dangerous, he trusted her." Alex said.

"I'm trusting that Agent Coulson made the right call two years ago, but I can't be sure, so until such a time occurs when I am positive she is not a threat I am leaving you in charge of the situation; you are the only one who knows how she operates, so I hope you make the right calls." Director Fury replied.

"You.. you're putting me in charge? Why? You have hundreds of agents more equipped for this kind of thing.. why me?" Alex asked.

"Well, if she's not a threat like you say she is, and I want to believe you I really do, but I don't want to have to argue with the members of my team who saw her this morning, but perhaps she will co-operate more with someone she knows." Fury answered, but Alex still wasn't convinced.

"That's not the only reason though, is it? You want her for something else, you want her on you side?" Alex queried.

"Recently the Earth has gained many enemy's, be they from space or from our very own planet, and it does not do us well to have even more." The Director admitted.

"So basically you're putting me in charge because there's a small part of you that wants to give her the benefit of the doubt?" Alex pressed.

Director Fury didn't answer his question and changed the subject in his reply; "The team is waiting for you in the conference room for you to start some of the interrogation, I will be watching too, but like I said, it's your call."

* * *

Alex walked into the conference room slightly shaken, and he tried not to be intimidated by the Avengers who had spaced themselves out around the room.

Alex stared at the video feed as the rest of the Avengers watched him with confused looks. The screen showed Anna being shoved into a large circular cell, which looked like it was made to withstand something a lot stronger than her. However, he didn't actually know how strong she was.

He watched her spin round quickly as if she was looking for something when her eyes rested on the camera and she smiled, giving it a little wave. _Still as cocky as always,_ he thought.

She looked dishevelled from her 'disagreement' with the Avengers not long ago. _What had she done to piss them all off? She really had a talent._ He looked at how much she had changed since he had last saw her; she looked slightly taller and her hair that was messily tied with loose strands in her face, had been dyed jet black in oppose to her normal chocolate brown colour. He frowned at this and pressed the button for the speaker.

"You've dyed your hair since I last saw you." He said, holding back a smile as the Avengers gave him shared looks which all said _what are you doing?_

Anna's head spun around as she looked around for the source of the noise and smiled.  
"Really," she said, "Its been nearly four months and the first thing you say is 'you've dyed your hair' brilliant observation, you're like Sherlock Holmes!" She replied.

Alex fought the urge to say something witty or sarcastic back but he had to be professional and mature, after all, he was dealing with a child.  
"Well what did you expect me to say?" He asked.

"I don't know the usual '_you're an idiot_', '_that was stupid_', '_what were you thinking?_', '_are you out of your mind?_' that kinda thing." She said, mocking his voice. "You kinda swung me there." She plonked herself down on the floor of the cell and sat crossed legged staring back up at the camera. "Who else you got in that room with you? I highly doubt they would've let you talk to me alone. Actually thinking about it why are you even talking to me?" She asked.

"I'm talking to you because yes, you are an idiot and I appear to have experience with dealing with you in the past. And as for people here with me," he glanced at the Avengers standing in the room with him, "I've got enough here to control you." He replied.

"Sure you do." She scoffed as she got up from the floor and started pacing around the 'cage' as she called it, unable to remain still.

"Anna how old are you?" Alex asked her, watching her carefully as she paced the cell.

She rolled her eyes and looked straight at the camera.  
"Eight Hundred and Twenty Five." She said.

Shock covered the Avengers faces, as they stared at the video feed before Alex broke their silence.  
"Arianna!" He said, sounding completely frustrated.

"Erghh! I'm _Eighteen_! Does no one understand sarcasm? And Alex if you call me Arianna again I swear I'll-"

"Are you seriously not old enough to look after yourself and NOT get into trouble?" He interrupted. Alex was annoyed now, Anna seemed to purposely get into trouble and now the whole of S.H.I.E.L.D once again thinks she is a deadly threat. And once again Anna did not realise the seriousness of the situation.

Director Fury, who had been watching the conversation between Alex and Anna with fascination and frustration chose his time to speak.

"Miss Halverson we would appreciate if you would co-operate accordingly, we wouldn't want to have to use force." He said.

"Co-operate how exactly? You haven't even told me what you want. I thought it was obvious to you that I don't want anything and I really am not a threat, so tell me please how I can help you?" She snapped back.

"Trust me, Agent Bronson has already tried to persuade me of your innocence, but I'd rather find out for myself. If you don't want anything then why are you here?"

"You should believe him when he says I'm innocent." She muttered. "Wait, wait a sec, did you just say _Agent_ Bronson? Alex, you _work _for S.H.I.E.L.D now? Is that why you haven't spoken to me _or_ Hannah in months? What happened?" Anna replied furiously. _How could he?_

"Listen Anna it's not like that I-"

But Anna had been distracted and wasn't paying attention to Alex any more and was now closely inspecting the edges of the 'cage_'_, whilst dealing the betrayal she felt.

Director Fury noticed her fascination with the cell and spoke up again;  
"Miss Halverson that cell is shock proof, bullet proof, missile proof and has many layers of reinforced _titanium_. I highly doubt you will be able to escape." He said smugly.

"Yeah, it's even Hulk-proof." Muttered Banner.

Anna looked up at the camera once again.  
"Yeah, but is it _Angel_-Proof?" She smirked.

* * *

**A/N: I know I said this would be a long chapter, but I changed my mind and realised I needed this filler chapter :') I apologise for any of the characters being OoC, this chapter was the result of late night procrastination, and came out completely different to how I had planned it. Next chapter is better, I promise, I don't really know what happened to this one..**

**Review? :)**

**Aye-Aye57 (:**


	6. Part 1 Chapter 5

_Yeah, but is it Angel-Proof?" She smirked._

* * *

Anna rolled her shoulders as she felt her wings unfurl for the second time that day. She stared at the walls of the 'cage' and concentrated on the mechanics behind them, despite the banging in her head. She sensed the energy pulse through her wings and she closed her eyes as she heard the walls creek a part. Her eyes snapped open at the final groan of the cell wall and she stumbled through the gaping hole left in its wake ignoring the ringing in her ears.

Standing in the corridor outside the now useless cell, disorientated and hopelessly lost Arianna let her wings disappear to help lessen the pain in her head.

* * *

"That girl has serious issues!" Clint announced, as he went to grab his bow, before a hand stopped him.

"Don't," Warned Agent Bronson, "If you try to attack her she'll just run, and you won't find her again, trust me." he said, looking right into Clint's eyes.

Agent Barton hesitated and glanced longingly at his bow, before huffing and sitting back in his seat.  
"So what do we do then _Agent_? We have a crazy alien angel thing loose on board the ship!" Exclaimed Clint.

"Let me talk to her!" Answered Alex.

"Yeah, because that worked _so_ well before!" interjected Tony.

"She's being irrational, she is scared, who wouldn't be if you were in that situation? I will find her and talk to her, but you can't attack her. It may not seem like it but she isn't against us." Explained Alex.

"Why are you talking as if you've had experience with her before?" Natasha asked, nearly forgotten as she sat quietly in the corner of the room.

"Because I have had experience before." Alex smiled and dashed out of the room, not waiting for any further comments.

* * *

Arianna had to admit she probably did look out of place with her dusty clothes and messed up hair, half stumbling half running down a random corridor in the maze-like insides of the Helicarrier, but then she never really did care that much about her appearance.

Pausing to catch her breath and finally _think _Anna rested against a dip in the wall, slightly out of the line of sight of other people.  
How was she going to leave? She didn't fancy being locked up, or being shot at again. She really couldn't keep this up much longer; she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply trying to calm her racing mind.  
A voice shouting her name caused her eyes to flutter open, blinding her for a second.  
"Anna!"  
She turned her head in the direction of the voice and saw Alex running towards her looking relieved. Anna turned her body away from him, not wanting to talk to him, or look at him.  
"Anna, please look at me." He pleaded as he knelt down next to her.

She ignored him and stared at the ground, suddenly interested by the different shades of blue in the floor.  
"Anna please, I'm sorry. But wouldn't you rather have me instead of some horrible S.H.I.E.L.D agent?" He argued.  
Anna turned to face him; his blue eyes laced with concern locked with hers, and at that moment she couldn't stay mad at him.

Her eyes travelled down to his jumpsuit and she frowned.  
"You look like an idiot in that stupid jumpsuit." She smirked.

Alex laughed, glad to have her back on his side. "Yeah," he chuckled, "I guess I do." he smiled at her.

"So are you going to introduce me to your friends?" She asked.

"Are you being serious?" He questioned.

"Yes. I need to do this properly if I want them to believe me when I say I'm _not _their enemy." She replied.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes! Now will you stop questioning everything I do?" She teased.

Alex sighed and shook his head, he _had_ missed her. "You look terrible by the way." He grinned at her.  
She glared at him and shoved him onto the floor.

"Ow!" He cried, but he was obviously unhurt.  
Anna chuckled and hoped up off the floor and offered her hand to help him up.

"Introduce me to that hunky Norse God first though eh?" She joked as she helped Alex up.

* * *

The Avengers sat around the huge table lost in thought, the only noise being the sound of Tony's fingers as they tapped away absent mindedly on his phone.

The main thought on everyone's mind was how could Fury be so calm about the whole situation? He sat on the other side of the room and appeared to just be waiting. He had a possible hostile alien loose on board the Helicarrier yet he hadn't done anything about it. In fact he had placed all his trust in Agent Bronson who was nothing more than a rookie at best, yet he claimed to have experience dealing with this threat before? It was something none of them could understand and they all hated being kept in the dark.

Natasha was the first to sit up at the sound of footsteps approaching, closely followed by Clint and Steve and then Bruce. Stark still seemed engrossed in his phone reading a file of some sort. Unaffected by the noise Thor remained unusually quiet as a look of concentration covered his face, as if his was trying to put a name to a face, and a face to a memory from long ago. Fury stayed seemingly oblivious to the stirring superheroes and remained silent.

The doors hissed open as they responded to the movement behind them.  
Agent Bronson walked into the room looking significantly less stressed than before. His footsteps were followed by another pair, but these sounded a lot more hesitant as they paused outside the door.

Into the room walked the 'girl', Anna, whose eyes darted everywhere anticipating and surprise attack that could be made on her. Everyone moved to try and restrain her, but Fury raised a hand to stop them.

"I think we should give Miss Halverson here a chance to explain, don't you? It is only fair." Fury stated, seeming out of character.  
The team hesitated but reluctantly relaxed into their seats at Fury's re-assuring nod.

"Look, I know we got off to a bit of a bad start but.." She started.

Natasha scoffed; "That was your definition of a '_bit of a bad start_'?"

"Well, I've had a lot worse." Anna replied. "But I wanted to explain that I'm not your enemy and I don't want to cause anyone any harm. Earth is my _home_, I've lived here undisturbed for eighteen years, and I would like to continue that streak." She explained.

"So what about the whole alien thing?" Captain Rogers asked, slightly confused.

"Adopted and raised on Earth as a baby. As far as I know there is no one else like me left in the Universe." She admitted.

The room fell silent as everyone tried to process the last statement.

"I know what you are." Thor's voice boomed, startling everyone as it broke the silence. "You are of Vængrheim, a mythological realm of the skies. How you are here I do not know." The Norse God sounded baffled. "I would hear stories of your race when I was a child in Asgard." He admitted.

"Yeah well, even fairytales have fairytales." Anna remarked.

"What's Vængrheim?" Tony asked.

"Vængr is Norse for 'wing' so Vængrheim basically translates as 'home of the wing', to put it in simple terms." Anna explained.

"But Thor said it was a _mythological_ place." Interrupted Clint.

"Yes but in Earth mythology so is Asgard." Anna replied.

"So what does Asgardian mythology say about Vængrheim, Thor?" asked Fury.

"The people of Vængrheim were a peaceful and very ancient race. They were said to of been the very first life at the beginning of the Universe; the very first realm. They were a very powerful race and had strengths and powers unbeknown to any other realm. Their wings were made from the strongest substance in the Universe, and each individual had a different coloured pair of wings to reflect their personality. They had no enemies and were at peace with the rest of the realms." Thor paused as Anna spoke.

"Hear that? A _peaceful_ race." She sounded smug. "But why the use of the past tense?" She asked Thor.

He ignored her question and continued. "Then one day the balance within the realm was disrupted by an unknown power. A large group of the Vængr rebelled due to their fear of this unknown power and sent the realm into war with itself. To protect the other nine realms from their impending destruction due to their fighting, Vængrheim's most powerful sent the realm and its people into the unknown space between realms. Resulting in Vængrheim being lost in time and in between worlds forever." Thor finished.

The room stayed blanketed in silence in response to the information they had received. Unsurprisingly Anna was the first to break the silence.  
"And that is a very heavy history lesson that I wish not to re-live again." She sighed. "I'm not familiar with _all_ the details, but I understand the use of past tense now." She added.

"Wait, we're ignoring the elephant in the room right now!" Exclaimed Clint. "If Vængrheim or whatever you call it was lost in between worlds how are you here?" He asked pointing a finger accusingly at Anna.

Thor moves as if to speak but Anna beats the God to it.

"Allow me to answer that. The 'unknown power' that Thor was talking about? It was a child. A child with power never seen or heard of before. And the whole wing colour thing Thor mentioned before? Well this child had every colour under the sun in their wings in one way or another, and they were ever changing. Before this people had only ever had one colour, two at most in their wings and this sparked fear among some people, leading to conflict and so on. 'Vængrheim's most powerful' were the child's parents and they cast the realm away not only to protect the other realms but to save their child too.  
"Too young to understand what was happening they sent their child to the simplest realm, where they would be protected and hidden. That realm was Midgard. And in case you were too stupid to realise that child was-_is _me." She finished taking in a deep breath, glad to of got that out of the way.

"Errghh and I didn't even understand Norse Mythology in the first place!" Complained Tony.  
Anna chuckled thankful for the joke to help lift the heavy blanket of tension she could feel setting over the room.

Surprisingly Thor was the next to speak. "Thank you young Anna, for you have greatly expanded my knowledge of Vængrheim. I am most grateful and I apologise for my violence before." He said.

"No problem." She smiled at him.

"Okay, that may have seriously confused me, but obviously you're not trying to do anything bad, you're just misunderstood. So I guess I believe you when you say you're not the bad guy." Bruce spoke up from his seat in the room.

The rest of the team muttered vague agreements at Bruce's statement and Anna turned to Alex as they shared a smile. _So at least no one wants to try and lock me up and/or kill me now._ She thought.

"One question though, how'd you get out of that cell?" Clint asked.

"Honestly? I don't actually know, just kinda _wished _the walls apart." Anna shrugged, she was as confused as them.

"Well I don't know if I should be worried about that.." Director Fury started.

"No, don't worry it won't happen again, trust me." Anna replied hastily. She wasn't _that _stupid. Her head was still spinning from the last time. "I really am sorry about before, sometimes I do things without thinking or explaining first." She added.

"Don't worry, you're not the only person who does that." Natasha assured, aiming a glare at Tony.

"Hey,-"  
But his retort was cut short by the sound of the monitors flashing in the room alerting the Avengers to the fact that their assistance was needed.

Anna looked confused as Alex dashed out the room trying to find out what was happening, telling her he'd be right back.

"What's the situation Director?" asked Steve as he stood from his chair springing into action, as did the other Avengers.  
Director Fury had risen from his chair at the first sound of the alarm and was reading from his phone.

"There's been an attack on a S.H.I.E.L.D base outside New York, some unidentified droids are attacking. Suit up and get to a jet, _fast_. Stark, I want you to fly in first and assess the danger of the situation then alert the others and us of what's happening. Now go!" Fury ordered, and the team dashed out the room past a completely stunned Anna.

Director Fury followed behind, heading towards the main deck of the Helicarrier so he could find out more information about the situation and control it easier.  
"Stay here." He commanded, as he turned round from the doorway to make eye contact with her. "Glad to have you on our side, Miss Halverson." he said more softly as he left the room.

_Stay here my ass_, she thought.

_Droids_. Now why did that sound familiar to her? And the fact that they were attacking the S.H.I.E.L.D base outside of New York, the very same one she was first held in? Coincidence? Anna didn't believe in coincidence.

Rushing out of the room she ran in the opposite direction to Fury and Alex. Instead she headed for the steps up to the outside deck, the only thought on her mind was helping the Avengers.

She was confronted by a steal door and a keypad, requiring a code for her to enter out onto the outside deck and to the runway.  
Digging into her pocket she retrieved her phone and placed it against the keypad, as her phone decrypted the code. The door clunked open and Anna stepped out into the cold air, her body instantly adjusting to the high altitude.

* * *

Alex returned to the conference room only to find it empty. "_Anna._" He growled under his breath.

Grabbing his phone he dialled her number; _pick up your phone you feathered-_his mental cursing were cut off by the sound of someone answering.

* * *

Anna felt her phone vibrating in her hand, as she was yet to put it back in her pocket. She glanced at the caller ID but there was only one person it could be.

"Alex." She rolled her eyes.  
"What are you doing?" She heard Alex scream into her ear.  
"Helping." She said simply, before hanging up and putting her phone back in her pocket, zipping it up. She stared down the runway as the wind whipped her hair and stung her eyes.  
She took a few steps back, then ran full speed towards the edge of the Helicarrier deck, then she leaped off the end, falling fast for a few seconds, then being pulled back up as her wings appeared.

* * *

Alex could only watch in horror as he saw a small flash of colour whizz past the huge glass windows inside.

_He was going to kill her._

* * *

**A/N: So sorry I took so long to update, the whole mythological part was really hard to write as I had to make up the whole thing. Anyway hope you enjoyed, next chapter will be updated a lot faster.**

**Don't be afraid to leave a review! :)****  
****Until next time;****  
****Aye-Aye57 :)**


	7. Part 1 Chapter 6

**A/N: I am so sorry this took so long to update! Nearly a whole month D: Life caught up with me and I've just been going through a lot. Sorry, promise it will NOT happen again! Anyway on with the story!  
**

* * *

The team rushed towards the hanger where a quinjet was already waiting for them. Tony had taken off beforehand to get a head start and survey the scene so that they all had some idea of what was going on. The Avengers hadn't received any information other than a S.H.I.E.L.D base was being attacked by a small group of droids. They hadn't been able to get any more information than that as communications at the base had been scrambled.

Natasha and Clint took their positions in the pilot and co-pilot seats, both of them putting on headsets.

Clint checked that the jet was ready and everyone was seated, before requesting that the hanger doors be opened. The quinjet flew out of the Helicarrier and Clint glanced at the coordinates for the New York base.

"_Stark, what's your ETA?_" He asked through his earpiece.

"Err the base should be coming into view in a few seconds." Stark replied over the comms. There was silence over the connection and then Tony gave a low whistle as he looked down at the base. _A pause_. Then he spoke.

"How far out are you guys? This is a mess." He relayed to the team.  
Iron Man hovered about twenty feet above the base taking in the horrors below.  
"Ok, the main loading bay has been completely blown away and there are vehicles all over the place." He told them. "From what I can see there are about thirty of these droid things but they look pretty basic."

"_What about agents?_" Clint asked.

"I'm not sure I can't tell, either they were smart enough to get out of there or they are trapped inside." He replied.

"_Or worse._" He heard Natasha mutter through her earpiece.

"_We're nearly there Stark, think you can try to contain it before we get there?_" Steve asked, taking the lead trying to think of a plan before they landed.

"Yeah." His reply was short as he descended to the outside area of the base.

"JARVIS? Think you can find me a weak spot?"

"_Of course Sir._" Blue lines appeared on his screen scanning the components of the visible droids.  
From where he was standing Tony could see about five of the droids. They were almost eight feet tall and silver in colour. Two arms and two legs, and a tin can like head; Tony noted dully; classic movie style droid. Whoever was behind this obviously hadn't tried.

He raised his right hand at the nearest droid about to fire, when something fast and hot hit him in the chest. He was sent flying and he landed hard a few feet away, creating a small crater.

Warning sighs flashed in his eyes as the suit's systems re-booted.  
Groaning he sat up slowly to see a droid lower its fist.

"Guess these things are tougher than they look." He muttered.

"_Stark, are you ok? We've got the base in sight, it doesn't look pretty._" Clint's voice sounded from his ear.

"'M fine, these things pack a punch though, be careful where you land." He replied.  
Tony, still slightly dazed stood up and became aware that more droids had approached him.

"JARVIS, have you got a weak spot for me yet?" He pressed the AI. He wasn't panicking, he was just slightly worried by the increasing amount of droids surrounding him.

"_Results are inconclusive Sir, they don't appear to have any weak areas._"

"Great! Could this day get any worse?" He exclaimed.  
Another blast hit him from the side and Tony fired the thrusters so he was safely in the air.  
"That was a rhetorical question!" He shouted to the droids.

Aiming wildly Tony shot at the droids anyway that was possible hoping to do some damage, but his shots had no effect on the advancing robots.

"_Tony we've landed out the front, where are you?_" Steve asked into his earpiece.

"Out the back loading area. Hurry, I'm having no effect on these things!" he commented.

Dodging another energy pulse, Tony fired hopelessly at the oncoming force. He heard the re-assuring roar of the Hulk and an arrow whizzed past him striking the metal of the droid nearest to him. The arrow exploded sending the droid flying backwards knocking another two down before it landed on top of an over turned car.

Tony glanced to his left and saw the rest of the team arriving. His relief was short lived however when the droid Clint had just hit, stood up and fired straight towards them. Natasha and Steve rolled to the right and Clint and Thor jumped in the other direction. The Hulk roared angrily and stomped towards the droid punching it straight in the chest. Yet it still stood unharmed by the Hulks attack.

"Yeah, these things just don't _die._ Got a plan Cap?" Tony said firing at more approaching machines, trying to hold them off.

"Spilt up a bit, if we can draw them out as individuals it' should be easier to take them out." Captain America ordered, all traces of Steve Rogers disappearing. Hawkeye and Black Widow ran to take cover behind an over turned Jeep firing ineffectively at the increasing number of droids. Iron Man took to the skies and headed to the opposite end of the loading area. Captain America and Thor looped in opposite directions around the group of robots. The Hulk ran straight into the main group smashing all the metal creatures in his path.

"All our weapons and attacks are useless on these things!" exclaimed the Captain as he used his shield to reflect a blast from the droid he was fighting.

Dark clouds swirled overhead as Thor tried to shock his group of droids in the chest with a bolt of lighting.

"We are running out of ideas here!" cried Tony as he tried to hold off more of the robots.

Before any of them could react, one of the droids near Hawkeye and Black Widow folded away the outer layer of its hand. In its place was half a dozen metal rings spiralling around each other with a heated core. The machine made a noise that sounded like a power up and the rings spun faster around the core on the robots arm.

"Look out!" Steve shouted, but the assassins were unable to move, distracted by the other droids.  
Clint turned to see the droid fire and he closed his eyes as he waited for the blast that would surely kill him.

Time seemed to slow and Clint didn't hear the shouts of his team mates, all he could think was that he was going to die. A bright light shone behind his eyelids but he did not feel the burning and the pain he expected to.

He opened his eyes to see a figure standing in front of him; having deflected the blast. He turned to his side to see Natasha staring at the figure too.

"You looked like you needed some help." The figure spoke as they turned to reveal Arianna, her wings out acting as a shield.

"Aim for their necks, it's the weakest point, one good shot there should power them down." She said before taking off to help Steve, who was as shocked to see her as as the assassins.

"_The girl says to aim for the neck. May as well try it_." Natasha said into her earpiece, alerting the others of this new information.

His senses returned to him quickly and Clint and Natasha began aiming more carefully at the droids. An arrow hit the closest robot right in the neck and it exploded sending the droid to the floor.  
Aware of their comrade falling more droids re-directed themselves towards the assassins. Clint struck three more and Natasha took out two.

Anna deflected a blast aimed at the Captain before she ran straight towards the droid aiming a kick right at its neck, sending the head flying and the body to the floor.

Thor was more precise with his aim of the lightening and was able to take out four at once.  
Seemingly happy at the new information the Hulk simply plucked the droids up and twisted their necks, disabling them instantly.

Tony had JARVIS auto-lock onto the necks of the droids, destroying five in one shot.

Trying to distract the droids and draw their fire away from the team, Anna took to the sky and flew in and out of the remaining droids. Some of them turned their fire to her, and she was able to bounce the blasts off her wings and back to the droids. It sent some of them flying towards the Hulk and others were destroyed by the blasts.

A large amount of the remaining droids had gathered around Captain America and he looked to be struggling. Kicking off the ground Anna flew as fast as she could to get to him. Landing behind she blocked a shot before it could take him off guard. Turning to look around she saw that everyone's attention had turned to the two of them trapped in the centre by the last half a dozen machines.

"Don't worry Cap, I've got this one." She notified him.

"Duck!" She yelled.

Sensing the Captain move she placed her hands out in front of her sending a wave of energy out to the last of the droids. The pulse fried the circuits and the metal creatures fell to the floor.

"Whoa, head rush!" Anna muttered as she stumbled forward. Steve grabbed her arm to stop her from falling. She gave him a look of thanks and she looked at the carnage around them. _Well, not as bad as it could of been._

As the rest of the team walked over, Anna walked in the opposite direction trying to make it look like she was interested in a droid so that they wouldn't pay attention to her. She risked a look back when Hawkeye spoke up.

"S.H.I.E.L.D have a clean-up crew on their way. We need to find out what did this and whose behind it. Fury wants us back on the Helicarrier, although debriefing will be in the morning. We've all had a long day." He said solemnly. The sky almost appearing to darken at his words.

_Yeah, no thanks to me_. Her head hurt, her wings hurt and she was still in her filthy clothes from the morning. She'd had bad days but this was turning out to be one of the worst.

Her phone began vibrating in her pocket. _Really? _She was surprised she hadn't completely destroyed the thing.

She fished the device out of her jeans pocket not wanting to look at the caller I.D in fear of knowing who it was.

"_Get back to the Helicarrier. _Now_._" Alex's voice ordered down the line. "_You can get the jet back with The Avengers. I'm sure they want to talk to you_."

They didn't look that keen or happy to speak to her, she noted as she watched Iron Man fly off. Probably getting a head start back to the Helicarrier.

"I'll pass on that, I'm sure I can fly myself back. Don't really fancy being in a small enclosed space for that long." Anna replied. She wasn't going to admit that she was scared to be within killing distance of Black Widow. She hadn't stop glaring at her since they'd met.

_"Anna_." He growled.

"Look, I need the fresh air. Trust me I'll be there in double quick time." She replied hastily.

_"Do you even know where you're going?_" He asked.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" She asked sarcastically. "See you in a bit!" She hung up before he could protest.

Aiming a smile and a mock salute at the Avengers she took off into the sky, seeing if she could catch Iron Man.

* * *

The sky was dark by the time they returned to Helicarrier.

The hanger doors of the air ship opened and Stark whizzed in straight away, not waiting for anyone. The quinjet hovered around in a tight circle and then landed in its designated space. Anna flew in and landed gracefully next to it, shaking out her wings before they folded away. She stumbled slightly, catching herself before she fell. She turned to watch The Avengers-bar Tony exit off the jet and walk towards her. Steve was in front looking unusually angry.

"What was that?" Steve growled at her.

"What do you mean? _That _was me saving your asses!" She shouted back.

"No, that was you trying to help and messing everything up for us!" He exclaimed.

"If it wasn't for me you'd all be dead!" She argued.

"Kid's got a point Cap." agreed Clint.  
She frowned at Clint, she didn't like being called a _kid_, she was much more than that.

"Look it's not like I'm ungrateful for you saving us, but the way you operated was reckless ad untidy. No one could tell what your next move was going to be!" Said Steve, starting to sound fed up.

"_Yeah, well its not like I knew what my next move was gonna be either._" She mumbled under her breath.  
"I was trying to help!" She spoke up out loud.

"You must of known that you could do that stuff ages ago right? So why didn't you help S.H.I.E.L.D when they asked you two years ago?" Tony questioned as he re-joined the group, face plate up.

Anna scowled at him. _How did he know about that?_  
Tony gave her a look back that read; _Yeah that's right I found your file._  
The Angel frowned, she had hit a dead end, well she would just block them from getting any answers in return.

"There's a reason why I don't use my powers for things like that you know, but you're all to blind to see that." She spoke, as she headed towards the huge steel doors that were the exit of the hanger. She turned as she added;"One day you won't be able to do enough, y'know. They'll keep asking for more and you won't be able to deliver. The public will turn on you, so will your friends. People will stop believing in heroes, and then what will you do?" She looked at them all one by one, her gaze turning back to Tony as he spoke.

"And what about _you_? What are you in all this? At least we try to use what we have to help." Tony questioned. "You're not a hero, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself or anyone else that you are helping it won't change that." His words sounded oddly familiar to her.

"Oh really?" She challenged. "Well you're just Tony Stark, a man who fought his way into a world where he doesn't belong. Tony Stark, still trying to get his fathers attention after all these years." She half snarled at him, and watched him stiffen, she turned her back to walk away, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.

She heard him remark from behind; "Well, at least I _knew _my parents."

That was a low blow even for Tony Stark, and he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth.  
Anna's body whipped round so fast it made Tony recoil. He could literally feel the anger radiating off of her.

She didn't even have time to think before she felt the burning sensation seer up her back and her wings unfurled from the fire. This time it was different, she could feel the anger travel through all the way to the tips of her wings as they powered themselves.  
She was going to suffer the effects of this, but she was going to make sure Stark suffered more.

His face plate snapped shut with a clunk as the sound of the repulsors powering up could be heard.  
"Bring it on, _Angel-face_." He sneered behind his helmet.

* * *

**A/N: Another cliff-hanger (sort of) sorry for the long wait again, but the next chapter is already partly written and so is the next! So quicker updates I promise!  
**

**Review?****  
**


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